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United States Patent | 5,629,581 |
Belle ,   et al. | May 13, 1997 |
A lamp cathode-to-ballast interconnect is provided in combination with a lamp having elongated cathodes and ballast circuitry for supplying power to the cathodes. The lamp cathode-to-ballast interconnect comprises a plurality of conductive clips connected to the ballast circuitry. Each clip has a generally flat portion connected at a first end to ballast circuitry and has a pinching groove formed through the flat portion and extending to a cathode-receiving opening at a second end. The interconnect further comprises a loom for holding the lamp cathodes. The loom comprises, for each cathode, a pair of cathode-receiving support grooves separated by a space in which a second end of an associated conductive clip is to be received. Walls of each of the pair of cathode-receiving support grooves grip therein-received portions of the cathode with sufficient force to enable a gas-tight contact to be made with its associated conductive clip when the cathode is received within the pinching groove of the clip. In a method of connecting elongated cathodes from a lamp to ballast circuitry for a lamp, the cathodes are gripped and inserted by machine implementation into respective pairs of cathode-receiving support grooves of the loom. A conductive clip is moved into a respective clip-receiving space in the loom so that the pinching groove of the clip receives and pinches a cathode and completes a gas-tight connection between the clip and the cathode.
Inventors: | Belle; Kelvin B. (Willoughby Hills, OH); Fulop; Jozsef (Budapest, HU); Kachmarik; David J. (North Olmsted, OH); McFeely; Robert S. (Valley View, OH); Papp; Ferenc (Budapest, HU); Ronald; Brian M. (New Philadelphia, OH); Wursching; Istvan (Budapest, HU) |
Assignee: | General Electric Company (Schenectady, NY) |
Appl. No.: | 569018 |
Filed: | December 7, 1995 |
Current U.S. Class: | 313/318.12; 315/57; 315/58 |
Intern'l Class: | H01J 005/48; H01J 005/50; H01J 007/44 |
Field of Search: | 313/318.01,318.06,318.07,318.08,318.12,318.1,493,318.02-318.03,318.04,318.05 315/56,57,58,70,71 439/232,241,244,786,818 445/23 |
3551736 | Dec., 1970 | Doehner | 315/57. |
3854114 | Dec., 1974 | Kloth et al. | |
4557544 | Dec., 1985 | Esser. | |
4723200 | Feb., 1988 | Troen | 315/58. |
4820956 | Apr., 1989 | Slobodzian et al. | 313/318. |
5015917 | May., 1991 | Nigg | 315/56. |
5043624 | Aug., 1991 | Hirozumi et al. | 313/318. |
5128590 | Jul., 1992 | Holzer | 315/58. |
5545950 | Aug., 1996 | Cho | 315/58. |
(Anonymous), "Amp Interconnection Systems Selection Guide, Catalog # 82750," Amp Incorporated of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Jul. 1995, pp. 3408 and 3409. |